Clinical facilitation is a central function considered indispensable for achieving the integration of theory to practice for nursing students and staff. The aim of this study was to identify and prioritize the competencies required for clinical facilitators in acute care, private sector environments as well as identify the gaps that arise between the importance of the competency and the evidence that the competency exists in current practice. A structured questionnaire was administered by central collection method and e-mail to seven designations of nurses who were directly or indirectly involved with the function of clinical facilitation from three geographical regions in South Africa. Returns were analysed from 212 responses received. The results of the survey rank ordered the list of the importance of competencies as well as the evidence that the competency exists. The gap variables showed there is a definite need for training in all competencies. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The aim of this research was to determine whether or not if levels of employee engagement is affected by their organisation’s diversity targeting programs, and whether this could be a possible reason for the perceived high turnover of certain classes of employees. The research was conducted using a structured survey sent out via email with the results being analysed quantitatively. The research was limited to engineering graduates working at Sasol. A secondary aim was to explore if there were any differences in motivation between the engineers of various race groups, ages and sexes. Finally the research aimed to rank factors known to affect employee engagement to assist organisations in developing their retention strategies. The most significant finding of the research done, was that the aggressive diversity targeting program within Sasol has not had a significant effect on the employee engagement of white engineers or for that matter on any of the racial groups, ages or sexes investigated. The results from this study supported the findings from various other studies in terms of which factors are perceived as the most important in terms of employee motivation. From the results a two stage employee engagement maturity model was developed which is presented. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

South African businesses are faced with the immense challenge of transforming themselves so as to reflect post-apartheid South Africa, while at the same time remaining competitive within a globalised market. This research project set out to establish how organisations could effectively channel the potential of an increasingly diverse workforce to derive positive outcomes for the individual and the organisation. To this end, the organisational approach to diversity and its ability to influence the extent of knowledge transfer has been examined.In fully exploring this relationship, four research propositions were developed. A quantitative approach in the form of a survey was utilised to ascertain the perceptions of employees within the banking sector in South Africa. The qualitative phase of the research entailed in-depth interviews with subject matter experts within the industry. This was primarily used to corroborate the survey responses, and to document original thought within the scope of this research. The data obtained through these research instruments was analysed to ascertain the strength of the diversity climate and knowledge transfer as business enablers.The results revealed that a positive diversity climate yields greater levels of knowledge sharing, which consequently results in positive career outcomes for the employee. These factors in aggregate produce both tangible and intangible benefits for the organisation. A conceptual framework has been proposed that depicts the key linkages established through the research findings. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Global competition and advances in technology are leading to the explosion of virtual teams in order to execute business strategies. Adoption of permanent virtual team structures enables companies access to best talent with rich cultural diversity as a form of competitive advantage. This new way of working brings forth challenges regarding leadership. The main purpose of this research was to identify perceptions on the leadership preferences and important factors enabling or inhibiting the effective leadership to manage virtual teams. Two types of data collection methodologies were used, namely, qualitative and quantitative in two phases. The first phase was to gain in-depth knowledge on the themes and constructs to be used to develop the questionnaire. The survey for the second phase took the form of self-administered quantitative questionnaires. In total 59 responses were received; 13 virtual managers, 23 virtual subordinates and 23 respondents who were both virtual managers and virtual subordinates. The outcome revealed that soft leadership skills are core to the success of virtual teams. There was a consistent view on findings between managers, subordinates and respondents who are both managers and subordinates. By understanding the relative importance of key skills, enablers and inhibitors, virtual managers will be able to demonstrate the different leadership qualities and practices required to effectively lead virtual teams. The key finding of the study was that at the crux of effective leadership in virtual teams is the ability for managers to display socio-emotional capabilities. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Health personnel, especially nurses, are often victims of workplace violence. Unfortunately, little is known about the nurses' experience of violence. A research study was initiated to further explore the nurses' accounts of workplace violence so as to make dimensions of the nurses' experience visible and more fully understood. Interpretive description was the research methodology adopted for this study. Using theoretical sampling, ten Registered Nurses from the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia participated in semi structured, audiotaped interviews. In this research, the nurses' experience of workplace violence emerged as a highly complex entity, deeply embedded in relationships and context. How nurses perceive the contextual factors of the organization, their immediate work environment and their individual attributes were found to play a significant role in how they respond to the phenomenon. The findings of this study suggest that organizational culture is an important determinant in managing workplace violence and that policy and administrative personnel play a pivotal role in influencing the problem. Nursing culture also influences the nurses' expectations, assumptions and actions towards violence. Participants voiced that role conflict often challenged their ability to enact acquired professional ideals and that that they routinely undertake roles in dealing with violence that are not appropriate to their level of knowledge or skill. Within the nurses' immediate work environment, bullying as well as physical and verbal abuse was commonplace. Overcrowding, long waits for service, poor environmental design and inadequate staff to patient ratios were seen as factors that increased nurses' risk. Individual factors were associated with emotional and psychological harms that nurses endured. Workplace violence affected self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy and the nurses' sense of control. Moral distress, self-blame, feelings of failure, loss of motivation and leaving the nursing profession were significant findings. The results of this study demonstrate a need to re-think how we can address workplace violence in nursing. Research and intervention is needed to further explore organizational policy and governing structures, the culture and climate of practice environments, and the fundamental role nursing education programs have in preparing nurses to manage workplace violence. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

In the modern day organisation where the emphasis is largely on teams rather than individuals, it is of critical importance to have teams who can be regarded as high-performing. High performing teams will ensure that companies can achieve more with less in terms of resources required. However the creation of a high performing team remains a consistent challenge due to innate human behaviour and traits. One of the keys that could assist in the creation of a high-performing work team is a strength-based leadership approach. The study compromised of firstly, the philosophy of strength-based leadership and the underpinnings of this philosophy. Secondly, the author also looked at the high-performance team model, attributes associated with this model and the various theories of how a high-performing team can be created. Thirdly an empirical study was conducted using a selected management team within a major automotive manufacturer that was already following the strength-based leadership approach. The empirical study aimed to establish to what degree this leadership philosophy is being followed as well as gauging the current level of team performance. Finally the empirical findings were correlated with the theoretical back ground established, and recommendations were made. Overall the team studied can be regarded as a high-performing work team, partially due to their approach in following the strength-based leadership approach. Individual team members are very aware of their own strengths as well as those of their fellow team members. The manager also seeks to continually utilize the individual strengths of his team. The team also has a very positive attitude and subsequently team motivation and performance is very high. However conflict resolution is currently a potential barrier to further performance enhancement.

Numerous decisions in organisations are made by teams, groups or committees. The need for group decision making is brought about by the increased complexity of many decisions which require specialised knowledge in numerous areas usually not possessed by one person. As such there has also been an inherent recognition that different members bring different contributions and that a marshalling of these contributions enhances decision-making. Most research about how to make teams more effective has focused on identifying the task processes that distinguish the most successful teams - that is specifying the need for collaboration, involvement and commitment to goals. The assumption seems to be that, once identified; these processes can simply be imitated by other teams, with similar effects but it is not the case since they do not take the level of the team’s emotional intelligence into consideration. Emotional intelligence should always be considered in a team setting since teamwork is an inherently social activity and as such emotions play an important role in team processes including decision making. Surprisingly the study of the effects of emotions and emotional intelligence in decision making at group level is a relatively new research avenue. Research indicates that emotional intelligence has been the subject of a significant amount of literature for a number of years. However little has been contributed to how the behaviours associated with emotional intelligence may be practically applied to enhance both individual and group decision-making. Druskat and Wolff (2001a and 2001b) proposed a model for emotional intelligence at the group level. According to their model, groups develop a set of behavioural norms called the Group Emotional Competence Norms (GEC norms) which guide the emotional experience in groups. The proposed model by Druskat and Wolff was used to define and measure group emotional intelligence in this study. The aim of the study was to establish whether there was a relationship between team emotional intelligence and team decision making at Transnet Port Terminal’s Ngqura Container Terminal. The findings of the literature study and the empirical study were combined to evaluate whether team emotional intelligence affected team decision making in the chosen population.The literature study suggested that there was a relationship between team emotional intelligence and team decision making. The empirical study confirmed the relationship between group emotional intelligence and group decision making but failed to confirm whether the chosen population consisted of teams.

Teams have increasingly become the means for completing tasks in many organisations, and organisations have turned to teams as a better way to use employee talents. Many South African companies have established work teams to solve both complex and minor problems, and some companies’ performance has increased due to the implementation of work teams. The fact that organisations are using teams does not necessarily mean they are always effective, there are many factors that contribute to team effectiveness in an organisation, and these factors need to be identified and managed properly so that the team can remain effective and produce the results that are expected. Management of most companies is unaware of the factors that contribute to group and team effectiveness, and most teams are ineffective because of the lack of focus on the factors that improve group and team effectiveness. This is the reason or objective why this study was conducted at Transnet Engineering, to identify the factors that are critical to improving team effectiveness. The researcher conducted a literature review in order to determine the factors that improve group and team effectiveness. Some of the factors deal with organisational culture, motivation (monetary and non-monetary motivation), diversity in teams, size of teams, formulation of teams, team leadership, team goals, team structures, team member training, trust in teams, etc. An empirical study with the use of a questionnaire was also conducted to determine the perceptions that supervisors, superintendents, foremen and managers have at Transnet Engineering with regards to factors that improve group and team effectiveness. The research instrument was grouped into five categories; organisational context, individual context, team context, management support and team effectiveness. More than 50 percent of the respondents agreed with the organisational and individual context factors that were tested, around 75 percent of the respondents agreed with team context factors that were tested, almost 60 percent of respondents agreed with management support factors, and more than 60 percent of respondents indicated that their teams are effective. Although there is general agreement between most factors identified in the literature study and the empirical study, the following will need more focus:  Offering of team resources  Leadership support from executive committee members (EXCO)  Proper reward and recognition systems  Conducting research to identify employee satisfaction levels  Team development  Diversity management  Talent management  Team size

M.Phil. (Personal and Professional Leadership) / in the workplace often cannot work together effectively towards optimal performance. Employees often experience relationship problems in the workplace. Not many realise that a lack of understanding of personality contribute to these problems. Through this study, the objective was to investigate whether a basic understanding of personality types is a factor that can significantly improve workplace relationships in teams and therefore improve effective teamwork and team performance in companies. The motivation for this study was to make a contribution towards helping teams function more effectively, specifically by improving workplace relationships through applying an understanding of personality types in teams. The empirical research method used in this study was a mixed method approach of quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative research was done through a survey questionnaire that was completed by a sample of respondents (n=183) from companies in the financial industry. This was supplemented by qualitative research by means of focused group interviews (n=16) with team leaders and managers of the survey participants. While the results were not found to be typical of the broader population, enough evidence were found to suggest that employees in the workplace realise the need for working together better in their teams, and seeing the value that personality profiling can bring towards achieving this reality.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-54). / The paper undertakes to research a spatial and skills mismatch in the city of Cape Town. The argument is that industry is moving towards the north of the city and away from areas of the south east. This physically displaces low and semi-skilled employees or potential employees who work or seek work in these firms. Areas of the south east are typically inhabited by low and semi-skilled workers who are forced to seek work away from where they live. This is because their areas are economically inactive and do not offer much prospects for development or employment in the current situation. We find that prospective employees or those already employed have to endure lengthy and expensive commutes to work on a daily basis. The city transport system, which includes bus, train and taxis, seems to be still largely inefficient and does not serve these employees well, or is not readily accessible in all the areas it is needed. The research was conducted in the industrial areas of Montague Gardens, Blackheath, Paarden Island, Epping Industria, Airport Industria and Phillipi. These areas were chosen because being industrial areas they would typically have a large number of low to semiskilled workers employed in their firms. Unlike professional or service related firms who would typically employ more qualified or educated (in terms of tertiary qualifications) workers. An interview schedule was prepared and we went to these areas and interviewed which ever firms agreed to it. The firms in the area were chosen in no specific way, we literally went for door to door asking for participants. The research was qualitative in nature, the interview questions were detailed and in depth (see appendices for actual schedule) and lasted for about 20m ins depending on the amount of time the interviewees were willing to spare. The results were analysed by comparing the reasons for relocating amongst each firm, the aim was to try and decipher what were the driving factors of this spatial shift and what implications it had for employees who had to endure these commutes. The significant findings are that the relocation or the move towards the north is driven by the availability of land or space and price. The north seems to offer more affordable premises and much more land, thus more value for money. There are adequate parking and storage facilities. Firms hardly considered workers in their search for new locations. Further south east employees are not left out of potential employment because of their physical distance from these economic nodes, most employees have managed to organise themselves and get to work, even with an unbalanced transport system.